The Agricultural Bank of China remains on course to become the world's largest
ever initial public offering despite a disappointing first day of trading in
Shanghai.

Shares in the Chinese bank closed up 0.8pc at 2.70 yuan (26p) after the company launched the first part of its widely anticipated dual flotation. AgBank shares had been expected to rise by almost 5pc.

The poor start was attributed to concerns about over the bank's structure and fears about general market conditions.

Despite this, analysts said the bank could still surpass the record £14.6bn raised by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) when listed its shares in 2006. This will not be known until AgBank launches the second part of the flotation in Hong Kong on Friday.

Liu Jun, analyst at Changjiang Securities in Wuhan, said: "The debut reflects worries over slower growth and rising bad loans at Chinese lenders, and continued weakness in the stock may prompt a renewed slump in the overall market."

AgBank is the last of China's four biggest lenders to be listed following the earlier IPOs of ICBC, Bank of China and China Construction Bank. Last month, Standard Chartered agreed to invest £300m in the bank.